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Character Themes
The themes of the characters in Thomas The Tank Engine And Friends have been an iconic part of the show. In Seasons 1-7, the majority of the characters had a recurring piece of music attributed to them. Here is a list of the character themes. It lists the season they were introduced in and the appearances of their themes. These themes are composed by Mike O' Donnell and Junior Campbell. *These are not the official names of the music pieces. They are named by T1E2H3 based on the character, location, episode, or general fan consensus. Season 1 Season 1 used synthesizers exclusively for music. The first theme heard in Thomas Gets Tricked was the "Busy Station Theme" when Thomas pulls the coaches into the station after he is introduced. The first character theme played was Gordon's. The first character‘s sad theme played was Thomas’s. Characters * Thomas * Edward * Henry * Gordon * James * Percy * Toby * Sir Topham Hatt * Terence * Bertie Other Recurring Themes * "Busy Station" Theme * The Breakdown Train Theme * The Runaway Theme (also known as The Troublesome Trucks Theme) * Henry's Sad Theme * The Turntable Theme * Thomas's Sad Theme Famous, Single Use Themes * The Flying Kipper Theme (re-arranged from Henry's theme) * Henry's Tunnel Ditty * Thomas and the Freight Cars theme (jazzy re-arrangement of the Thomas's theme and the TV intro music) * Henry Arrives Late (re-arranged from Henry’s Sad Theme) Trivia * Henry's theme was re-arranged into The Flying Kipper theme, with an extra part added. His sad theme is his theme played in A minor. * Despite being the first character introduced, Thomas's theme was not heard until the 5th episode, A Big Day For Thomas. * Thomas also had a winter variant of his theme, which was the same only the chuffing percussion was replaced with sleigh bell sounds. * It was almost impossible together the full theme from Trouble for Thomas. Most had to resort to inserting bits from the actual TV theme song or using a poor instrumental. Season 2 Like Season 1, Season 2 used synthesizers exclusively. However, the music became more advanced. Every engine except Gordon, Toby, and Henry had modifications to their theme. (Henry's theme did not appear). Character Themes * Duck * Donald and Douglas * Bill and Ben * Diesel ^ Rosie * Daisy * Harold * Trevor * Boco (extremely short) Other Recurring Themes * The Viaduct Repairs Theme * The Accident Theme * The Bad Weather Theme (Remix of Edward's Theme) * Outro Music Famous, Single Use Themes * The Ghost Train Theme * "The Diseasel" Theme Trivia * Henry's theme was the only original engines who's themes was not present in the season. A few notes of Toby's Theme was heard in Thomas, Percy, & the Coal & The Double Trouble. * Like Thomas, Donald and Douglas had a winter theme. * Henry's sad theme was used for when Duck was sent away in Diesel’s Devious Deed. * Boco's theme was only a small ditty, heard in The Diseasel ''and ''Wrong Road. Therefore, fans often attribute the Diseasel theme to him or a small ditty heard in the 3 season episode James Goes Buzz Buzz. Season 3 Season 3 was the first season to use real-sounding instruments rather than electronic sounding synths. However, many of the original synth music pieces were kept, though with modifications. All new themes used real instruments entirely. Because of this, this was the first season to use the outro music (for the US and the International versions of Mavis) Character Themes * Oliver * Mavis * Bulgy Other Recurring Themes * The Mail Train Theme (Remix of Thomas's Theme) * The Storm Theme * "The Adventure" Theme (Remix of Duck's theme) * "The Triumphant" Theme (Remix of Bill and Ben's theme) * The Harbor/Henry's Forest Ending Theme * Gordon's Silly Theme * Percy's Crash Theme (Remix of Percy's Theme) * Thomas's Crash Theme (Remix of Thomas's Theme) Famous Single Use Themes * Oliver's Escape Theme (Remix of Oliver's Theme) * Trevor's Carnival Theme (Remix of Trevor's Theme) * Henry's Forest Theme (Remix of Henry the Green Engine’s Theme (Sad)) * Gordon's Racing Theme (Remix of Gordon's Theme) * The Chinese Dragon Theme Trivia * Donald and Douglas were the only members of the NWR 11 who's theme was not heard. * The following characters' themes still had the original electronic pre-90s variants in the background: Edward, Gordon, James, Percy, Diesel, Bill, and Ben. * James's theme was a re-orchestration of his Triumphant Theme in Season 1. * Mavis was the last episode ever to feature the outro music, and this was only present in the US and the International versions. * Henry's sad theme was drastically re-arranged for Henry's Forest. This piece is generally considered the saddest music written for the show by fans. * A full rendition of James's theme was never heard after Season 3. Season 4 Season 4 was the first season to use no synth music at all (except Daisy's Theme). All the themes received a major re-arrangement. Character Themes * Skarloey Railway (Used for all Narrow Gauge Engines) * Rusty * Duncan * Stepney * George * The Diesel/Class 40 (only appeared once) * Duke (extremely short ditty) Other Recurring Themes * Skarloey Railway Hurry Theme (Remix of Skarloey Railway Theme) * Ambient/Alternate Skarloey Railway Theme (Also known as the Stubborn Engine Theme, remix of Skarloey Railway Theme). * Sad Skarloey Railway Theme (used in Sleeping Beauty, Rusty Helps Peter Sam, and Special Funnel) * Skarloey Railway Outro * The Triumphant Theme Outro (Thomas and the Special Letter/Thomas, Percy and Old Slow Coach) Famous Single Use Themes * Duke's Struggle Theme (Remix of Viaduct/Repairs Theme) * Rusty to the Rescue Theme (incorporates Rusty's Theme) * The Lakeside Theme (incorporates Triumphant Theme) * The Bridge Mending Theme (Remix of Rusty's Theme) * The Queen's Arrival (Arrangement of the UK national anthem "God Save the Queen") * Daisy and the Bull Theme (Stylized like the music from many spaghetti western films, like 'The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly', sped up arrangement heard briefly in 5th season episode 'Gordon and the Gremlin'". * The Triumphant Theme Outro (Thomas and the Special Letter/Thomas, Percy and Old Slow Coach) Trivia * Daisy's theme was the only piece of music to use the earlier synths, though it had a trumpet added as well. * Because of the main focus on the narrow gauge engines, only a few themes of the NWR 11 were heard. These were Thomas, Henry, and Toby. However, Percy's Danger theme was used, and Duck's Adventure Theme was featured, with bits of Stepney's Theme added in. * In the UK, the Ukrainian, the US and the International versions, some of the music was heard in certain places of the episodes, including Rusty Helps Peter Sam. * The Adventure Theme from Seasons 3-4 had a few notes of Stepney's theme added in Bowled Out. Season 5 Season 5 was the first season to use use absolutely no traces of the original themes. In fact, most of the character themes had a major re-arrangement. A lot of them were more laid back and casual then earlier arrangements. This season introduced some dark and spooky music to fit the tone the season. Character Themes * Sir Topham Hatt's Alternate Theme * Derek's Theme (Remix of Mavis's Theme, later used for Mavis in 6th and 7th Seasons) Other Recurring Themes * Henry's Danger Theme (also known as Haunted Henry Theme) * The Somber Theme (also known as The Boulder's Theme) * Thomas's Intro Theme (Remix of Thomas's Theme) * The Disaster Theme * The William Tell Runaway Theme (Remix of The Runaway Theme and Giocchino Rossini's piece "The William Tell Overtune", used once again in 6th and 7th Seasons) * Happy Outro * James Outro (Remix of James's Theme) Famous Single Use Theme * Duncan Gets Spooked Theme (Later Used in Season 6 Episode Scaredy Engines) * Henry's Spooky Theme (when Henry first encounters the abandoned station) * The Carnival Theme (Remix of Thomas's Theme) * Henry's Fishy Theme (Remix of Henry's Theme) * James vs. the Tree * James's Fire Theme Trivia * Since most of the characters introduced hardly ever appeared again, many of them didn't have their own themes. * Duck's theme were never heard at all (Donald and Douglas never made a full appearance aside from a few cameos). Henry's theme was remixed into the Fishy Theme and a few notes (in a spooky tone) were present at the beginning of the music when Henry first puffs through the mist in Haunted Henry. The first notes of James's theme could be heard in several pieces. Toby's theme was interesting as in Toby's Discovery, it was mixed with Oliver's theme. * Both the theme from Duncan Gets Spooked and Haunted Henry are considered to be the darkest themes from the show by many fans. * Percy's theme was majorly altered. Instead of the cheeky, punchy theme from before, this new arrangement was more serious and represented his hard working determination in these episodes. Season 6 Season 6 featured most of the Season 5 themes, though pieces from 3 & 4 were also often used. This season marked the return of several character themes that had been absent, like Donald, Douglas, Edward and Diesel. A lot of the themes were more relaxed than previous seasons, playing in a slurring manner. Also, many of themes did not use actual percussion, just flutes and strings. Character Themes * Salty * Harvey * Elizabeth * Cranky * The Pack Other Recurring Themes * The Red Balloon Theme * The Winter Wonderland Theme * The Spooky Theme * Thomas & Percy Mixed Theme * Busy Docks Theme (Remix of Salty's theme and instrumental of song "Down by the Docks") * The Fog Theme Famous Single Use Themes * She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain When She Comes Instrumental (played by organ in The Faulty Whistles) Trivia * A few notes of Duck's ditty theme from Season 6 is heard in Scaredy Engines. * Henry was the only main engine who's theme was heard at all (not counting Oliver as he only made a few cameos). * This is the first time Donald & Douglas's theme was heard since the 2 season. They were given real bagpipes. Season 7 Season 7 was special in that aside from 7 US episodes released on VHS And DVD, only the US version had the original music by Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell. As this was the last episode of the classic series, this was also the last to feature music by Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell. Because of the following themes again. The music sounds similar and uses the same style as Season 6. However, there were very few arrangements from before Season 6 present. Character Themes * Emily * Arthur * Murdoch * Fergus (instrumental of song "There Once Was an Engine who Ran Away") * Spencer (also used for introductory music in episodes) * Bulgy Other Recurring Themes * Thomas's Intro Theme (remix of Thomas's theme) * The Worker's Theme (remix of The Turntable Theme and Duncan's Theme) * The Triumphant Theme Intro Remix * Thomas/Gordon Outro Ditty (remix of Thomas and Gordon's themes) Famous Single Use Themes * Bill & Ben's Alternate Theme (remix of their original theme, heard in Bill, Ben & Fergus) * The Old Iron Bridge Theme * Edward's Alternate Theme (remix of original theme, heard in Edward's Brass Band) * James & the Queen of Sodor Theme (remix of James's theme) * "Let's Have a Race" Instrumental * Rusty's Hurry/The Danger Theme (fast remix of Rusty's Theme, heard in Trusty Rusty) Trivia * A few notes of Bertie's theme were heard in the episode Edward's Brass Band. Bertie's theme had not been heard since the 3 Season. * The Skarloey Railway theme was completely re-arranged, and so was the ambient theme from Season 7. * Fergus's theme was heard in the US due to the original music in that region. * Being the last character introduced in the classic era, Spencer's theme was the last character theme composed by Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell. * The final music composed by Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell was the "Let's Have a Race" Instrumental heard in the season finale Hooray 3 Cheers for Thomas!. The final theme heard was the Thomas/Gordon Outro Ditty at the end. * This is the only season not to have Thomas's full theme. Post Season 7 When HiT Entertainment was the classic series for 2003 (Season 7 in the US), Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell. Availability Aside from the theme song, the music to Thomas The Tank Engine and Friends by Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell has never been released on CD. Therefore, fans have to use either themes put together from episodes, instrumental of episodes (often of poor quality), or use new arrangements by other fans. Some themes have been released intact on certain games, but most of them cannot be found. Splice Editing This involves creating the theme by taking bits of it from certain episodes or dubs and connecting them together. This generally does not lead to good quality, as sound effects can be heard and the background and the editing can sometimes be choppy. Since the permission to use almost exact replications by users such as Sudrian Afro was given to the general public, this method is becoming more obsolete but can still is used for themes that haven't been recreated. 2 well known users who practice this are TheTenderEnginesUnited, Mktheinstrumentalist, and previously Sacred Wolfie Fan Recreations Users Sudrian Afro and Fiddlesticks Music (previously known as Toby's Windmill) are known for their almost exact replications of themes. They are able to create them as they use the same instrumental pack as Mike O'Donnell and Campbell. Until recently, neither allowed use without special permission. Other users like Knapford Harbor and The Tuggster Intensifies still do not allow use of their themes by general viewers. Other well known musicians in the community are Michael Melton, Cudak888, SilverDragonTV, UpsideNow, Skarloey Rheneas, Mktheinstrumentalist, and previously TheWoollyBearNo6 and Captain Punjab. Thomas1Edward2Henry3 has also recreated a few themes, which are Henry's Theme, Diesel's Theme, the them from Duncan Gets Spooked, Henry's Sad Theme, the ending cue from Henry's Forest, and Edward's theme. Instrumental Episodes This is not the most reliable method, as it requires the stereo tracks to be aligned in a certain way. The audio to Seasons 1 2 3 4 5 6 & 7 is in mono, User Oliver11GWR uses a different method. He uses splicing like above but for the whole episodes. He is very skilled at this which means the edits are a lot smoother then most attempts at "splicing". a major milestone occurred when user jjschepis3 uploaded many instrumental episodes from the 1 season. According to him, he owned a VHS with the episodes that had perfectly aligned stereo audio, making a perfect instrumental when edited in audacity. The sound effects are still present. Released Music A few official pieces of music have been released in games or online. Thomas, James, Percy, Donald, Douglas, Harold, Bertie, and the Flying Kipper's themes have been heard in computer games, completely intact (though often missing a few measures). Junior Campbell has also uploaded some original music. These are musical scores from Thomas and the Jet Engine and Rusty to the Rescue, the Mail Train theme, and the outro often used in Seasons 5-7 Theme. 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